NY Yankees' win in ALCS Game 6 beats out Sunday Night Football in overnight TV ratings

William Perlman/The Star-LedgerNew York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez along with Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira celebrate the win and the trip to the World Series after winning game 6 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee StadiumWhen rains pushed Game 6 of the ALCS between the Yankees and Los Angeles Angels to Sunday night, it was in direct conflict with the Giants' Sunday Night Football game against Arizona. In the battle for television viewers, both in the New York market and nationally, baseball won out -- not unexpected for a series-deciding game.

In the overnight metered-market ratings, the Yankees' 5-2 win for the ALCS title did an 11.4 rating in an 18 share, according to a Fox representative. The Giants' 24-17 loss to the Cardinals did a 10.4 rating in a 16 share, according to NBC.

Baseball had a more pronounced advantage in the New York market, where baseball did a 26.4 rating and football did a 9.3 rating. If New York were removed from the 56 markets metered by Nielsen Media Research, football would have beaten baseball nationally, the NBC representative said.

SNF had done better than playoff baseball last Sunday, when the Falcons-Bears game drew 18.2 million viewers compared to 5 million for Game 3 of the NLCS, and even had a higher rating in the Los Angeles market, according to a USA Today story. But this week's baseball game was of a much bigger magnitude, with the Yankees securing a World Series bid.

The situation was comparable to Oct. 19, 2008, when there was another football/baseball overlap within the same media market. The Rays beat the Red Sox in Game 7 of the ALCS, while the Buccaneers played the Seahawks on Sunday Night Football. That night, baseball did a 10.3 rating in a 16 share, while football did a 7.2 rating in an 11 share, according to NBC.